Built between the ninth and the thirteenth centuries by a succession of twelve Khmer kings, Angkor spreads over 120 square miles in Southeast Asia and includes scores of major architectural sites. In 802, when construction began on Angkor Wat, financed by wealth from rice and trade, Jayavarman II took the throne, initiating an unparalleled period of artistic and architectural achievement, exemplified in the fabled ruins of Angkor, center of the ancient empire. Among the amazing pyramid-and mandala-shaped shrines preserved in the jungles of Cambodia is Angkor Wat, the worlds largest temple, an extraordinarily complex structure filled with iconographic detail and religious symbolism. Perhaps because of the decline of agricultural productivity and the expansion of the Thai Empire, Angkor was abandoned in the fifteenth century and left to the ravages of time. Today many countries are working to conserve and restore the temples, which have been inaccessible until recently. Now that the civil war has ended, Angkor is being reborn and is an increasingly popular tourist destination.

Undaunted by the difficulties of traveling through Cambodia and eastern Thailand, Jon Ortner, accompanied by his wife, Martha, photographed fifty of the most important and unique monuments of the Khmer Empire. His images include spectacular views from the rooftops of its temples, glorious landscapes, and details of inscriptions and art that few have ever seen. Beautifully reproduced in Angkor, the photographs are accompanied by a fascinating text written by a team of experts, providing historical, architectural, and religious analyses of Angkor and the Khmer civilization. The appendix includes a glossary, a chronology of construction, and a chart of the kings and their accomplishments. Black-and-white floor plans and historic watercolors complete this breathtaking tribute.

Jon Ortner has been photographing in Asia for twenty-five years. His images have appeared in several books, including Abbevilles Sacred Places of Asia. Ian Mabbett is the author of The Khmers. Eleanor Mannikka is the author of Angkor Wat: Time, Space and Kingship. James Goodman is a scholar on the Khmer. John Sanday has been the Director of the World Monuments Fund in Cambodia since 1989.